It’s been like a beehive at our house, lately, as we try to settle in and lead normal lives. Hah, like that’s actually happening!  But, we are making progress, even if it is a a snail’s pace.

The fireplace from HELL

This week’s project was to install a mantel on our 42-year-old-and-very-boring-brick-wall-fireplace. Weren’t we surprised to discover that the bricklayer must have forgotten his level at home the day he built our fireplace. The bricks are  very noticeably slanted to the right. Yikes! We didn’t see it until we tried to level the new mantel. When we would get the mantel straight with the bricks, it would be so slanted that we could imagine our candle sticks sliding right off and crashing to the floor. But, when we leveled the mantel to a perfect 180, the whole fireplace looked tilted. Quick, give me a couple of Aspirins–and some for Peter, too! But, we stay calm and carried on.

Here is the fireplace before the mantel. We find it hard to understand why, in 42 years, one of the previous owners didn’t install a mantel. Oh, well, whatever.

Here is the mantel, as we saw it when we first came to see the house. I could see it had potential…but I didn’t see how crooked the bricks had been laid! It looks straight to the eye, right? (This is before we moved in…not our furniture).

This next photo shows the mantel installed, but not stained. This is when we could really see how that drunken bricklayer worked. Notice the mortar line under the mantel…see how it gets lower, and lower and lower as it moves to the right? It would be even more noticeable if we had installed the mantel at a perfect 180.

We had only one choice: split the difference. So, we installed the mantel a little crooked, in the hope that we would minimize the discrepancy. It sort of worked. Here it is..I still can’t decide what to put on it (decor is an evolutionary process in this house). I expect one day I will come across the perfect picture or vintage something-or-other that will be the icing on my crooked cake.

And one more, just for fun…

Okay, so it’s a beginning. I guarantee you that, over the next few months, the mantel decorations will change as often as a teenage girl getting ready for a big date.

Stick around, if you have time…I’m working on a post that will showcase all the cheap…err…inexpensive and ever so creative stuff I’ve made for our home.

Thanks, for reading, and happy decorating!